2983/Feeling the Heat

Feeling the Heat
Date of Scene:	18 March 2026
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	In the name of their hunt for magical energy, the Black Beauty Sisters threaten the structural integrity of the Antarctic this time, but luckily Homura, Ginga Kingu, and Puella Red answer the call before they go too far.
Cast of Characters:	Coco Delrieu, Madoka Kaname, Amanda Faust, Sugata Shindo
Tinyplot:	An Ocean Aria

---

Coco Delrieu has posed:
For those watching newscast in the mid-to-late afternoon, the Shimmering Times news service has switched to its environmental column for the last hour, and its news anchor, Takahashi Ken, has just finished closing up a service about the growth of the Great Indian Bustard, whose population has just grown to 70 as of last March.

"And now a word to our agent Sato Misaki, on field at the Antarctic in direct contact with the British Research Group."

"Did you really have to come watch this in my room, Hippo?", Coco asks in a thin, rough whisper, looking flushed and a little glassy-eyed as the penguin jumps on her knees and tunes in on her laptop. "Sorry Coco, but Madame Taki has been hogging the TV for the last hour, and I can't miss this broadcast", Hippo replies.

"You know, I could bring you to the aquarium again if you wanted company. You don't have to daydream", Coco says, pausing to swallow before lightly poking him in the head. "Thank you, Takahashi-san", a female voice picks up as the screen switches to a windy expanse of ice, with the reporter using a hand to hold her hoodie down. "Many BRG researchers report concern over an unusual warm spell in a specific zone of the Antarctic. Though it is rather small in range, they have already found several local animals hurt by collapsing ice. Efforts to determine the cause are ongoing."

"Temperatures, currently --10?°C (or 14?°F), are rising steadily, prompting protective measures for local wildlife."

"Coco?", Hippo says with a frown, turning around to her, one hand gripping her armrest and the other typing on her phone. "Yeah, that's not right", she replies, her voice barely above a breath, still focused on the group chat.

<PHONE> Coco Delrieu texts: Has anyone been watching the newscast?
<PHONE> Coco Delrieu texts: The Antarctic heat wave.
<PHONE> Coco Delrieu texts: Do you think it could be the Black Beauty Sisters?
<PHONE> Coco Delrieu texts: Meet at the same place?

Though she is asking that, she has already lifted Hippo out of her lap, and starts preparing for the trip, all the while gently touching the Orange Pearl. She at least wants to check what's going on over there. "Seira, I need you."

The air glows orange, and the spirit mermaid appears in the air. Sluggishly putting on her jacket, Coco fills her in in quick, clipped sentences."Could you drop me outside the Shed, and then all of us at the Antarctic?" Normally, she would walk there rather than have Seira exert herself twice, but right now, walking there herself feels like too much.

Seira looks at Coco and nods. Had she not asked, she would have already insisted on it herself. "Sure, let's go!"

And, so, the two mermaids are waiting right in front of the Shed as usual, and Coco is holding a parka on her arm, wearing loose clothing.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    A heat wave in the Antarctic is... unusual to say the least. Brai watches the news and says, "Huh... this isn't what I expected global warming to look like."

    Homura is a bit more suspicious as she squints at the information given. Natural phenomenon don't really look like this, and the middle of nowhere is the wrong place for something like a Witch to be. With rare exceptions. It's the wrong side of the world to be one of Beryl's usual bases, except for that one time, plus that other time, and... No no don't be distracted by your frustrations, Homura. Let's see, who else could it be?

    As her mind mentally goes through the checklist of 'whose fault could be this?', Coco texts with an alternate explanation. Of course it would be those two, considering what they've been up to.

    Wait, what could be magical for them to steal over there? The original question remains.

    Whatever. Homura flips her hair and walks out of her dorm. "Brai-chan, when you see Madoka, tell her I'm away on business. I shouldn't be gone long."

    As she's on the way out, Lydian clings to her shoulder and says, "I wanna go, too!"

    Homura is hesitant at first, but she was able to provide a safe spot for Gretchen for a while, so she can probably keep Lydian safe too. "Fine, but at the first sign of trouble I'm putting you in my shield."

    Lydian singsongs, "Okay!" while following the Puella out.

    The two of them arrive at the Shed. Homura's stony eyed stare is on Coco, watching her in a way that Madoka would interpret as concern but others might not know how to read. Lydian flies up to Seira and says, "Hii! Nice to see you again, Seira-chan!"

    Homura sideglances at Lydian. Was this the only reason she wanted to come along? Not that she blamed her. Deciding to focus on business, Homura says to Coco, "I'm ready whenever you are. Assuming you're up for it."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy texts: The what.

    Amy texts: I guess that could be something magical, but how are we gonna get to Antarctica? Is there a mermaid kingdom to Dream Tunnel to on land?

    Whether the transport method is explained or not, Amy shows up at the Shed soon enough. Seeing Coco and Seira and the dream tunnel and the parka, she henshins into winter gear, pink parka and snow pants and boots with faux white fur lining, and a long red scarf and a microfiber hat under the hood.

    Homura without Madoka gets a raised eyebrow. "Is Madoka okay...?" but, she's not that concerned, it's just unusual.

    "If anyone needs winter gear, I can change your clothes... uh... I've never been to Antarctica before, so I dunno if our henshins have that covered or not..."

    She's ready to go, though!

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Sugata Shindo is already in the Shed when Coco's request goes out - he's privately working in the Range, working to continue evolving his power, strengthening himself, rather than resting on past (insufficient) accomplishments. Riventon, has, after all, proven he's learned to defend from King's Pillar, just as the Third Phase Cybodies once did, and he has to evolve.

Stepping into the main space of the Shed, he stops at the sight of the three girls and ghostly Mermaid, raising a brow before shrugging.

"If you're willing to accept my aid, I'm willing to offer it," he tells Coco, devising that she must be at the center of this. "Besides, who can pass up a chance to aid Antarctica?"

Coco Delrieu has posed:
"Hello, Homura-chan, Amy-chan, and Lydian-chan", Coco and Seira smile at the same time, watching their friends' approach, though the orange mermaid's voice overtakes Coco's. "Are you here in Madoka's stead?", Coco asks the Chara, not really doubting anything is wrong with her, not if Homura is here.

The raven-haired girl's stony gaze gives both mermaids pause however. They know Homura's kindness despite appearances, but knowing that still doesn't stop them from looking uneasy.

Coco in particular shifts away from her eyes, guessing the reason, and rather focuses on the question Amy has given her. "The Antarctic is Caren's territory, so she could bring us there", she starts explaining quietly. "But the Orange Pearl's Dream Corridor is more powerful than the rest, and you can head just about anywhere on Earth with it."

She is about to give space to Seira when someone is coming out from behind them. "Hello, Shindo-san." Coco says quietly with a smile. If he looks at her, he might find her a lot paler than one would expect. "Of course, all help is welcome", she adds. "This is Seira-chan, and she will bring us to our destination. Just follow the path", she introduces him to the floating mermaid.

"Hello, Shindo-san. As Coco said, leave it to me! We have already looked at what we know, and the place we could find the Black Beauty Sisters at is not very big", Seira continues the discussion of what to expect. "If it goes well, Sheshe and Mimi shouldn't be far from where I drop you."

Seira begins to sing, and the Dream Corridor opens as usual. Although the steps in between are just about the same as usual, they can feel colder air coming in from the other end of the Corridor (about 20°C and 43°F of difference), and Coco starts shivering as soon as the atmosphere reaches here.

Even more unusually, when they come out on the other side, they aren't in the ocean at all, but rather out on open ice, though it's hard to say how much that will keep holding true.

The ice below everyone's feet is transparent, and small cracks move around with each step. Indeed the weather here is a lot milder than one would expect from the South Pole.

"Well, I guess this is it", Coco says, though a few words falter, walking slowly around the place. "Thank you, Seira."

"We will show them!" Seira cheers pumped up. "You be careful, ok? If you feel dizzy, just rely on me!" She knows her heart is too fragmented still, but between both of their songs, they should be doing well.

"Hey, wait, aren't those two there?", Coco says, pointing in the direction of the shadowy figures standing on a small hill of ice. Who, apparently, are accompanied by a giant bagpipe they are using to blast heat waves and melt the ice around them in huge chunks. There is a faint feeling of magical energy coming from some of those frozen blocks.

"Ok, we know what to do", Coco says. Curving her hands in a vague x-shape around her shell locket, yellow light radiates in around Coco, and a kaleidoscope of colour flourishes over her form.

"Yellow Pearl Voice!" The rainbow energy glimmers and clings, warping into pale yellow boots that flow into overlapping fabric. Rising up, a golden yellow dress and a short yellow pleated skirt blossom onto her and her pearl gleams and expands, settling comfily into her hand as her trusty E-Pitch microphone, with the yellow jewel nestled safely in the head's center.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's not racing through the corridor this time, walking against the cold breeze. "You know, one of my stories involved an ancient alchemist coming out of a magical artifact and teleporting the protagonist to Antarctica... Hopefully we don't find a secret base there with a temporal anomaly that dumps a whole bunch of... people-turned-monsters that all have the zombie mode thing I do... on top of us." Amy furrows her brow. "Come to think of it, that story also had something threatening global warming, because of a release of magic power...I forget how they stopped it..."

    She conjures a bat -- there's a thruster on the side just below the end so it counts as a weapon, and she idly spins it in her hand as she walks.

    They reach the end, and Antarctica, and Amy pulls out her phone to take some pictures and a short video, and looks uneasily at the transparent ice -- being plunged into ice water would not be good... before they notice the Black Beauty Sisters, and she sighs. "There must be something magical under the ice they're trying to get to..."

    "Backblast clear!" Amy warns, kneeling on the Live Stage as her bat becomes a launcher on her shoulder and fires an explosive round at the sisters, because why let them get even a second closer to whatever it is, and talking doesn't seem to work on them.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "I'm here in case Homura-chan gets into trouble," explains Lydian. "Calling for backup would be... difficult unless Seira helped us with that, but it's important to keep an eye on each other in case something happens."

    Frigidly, Homura says, "Plus she wanted to say hi to Seira." At which point Lydian giggles. The Puella turns to Amy and says, "She's fine. She's just doing something else right now." Beyond that, she decides not to elaborate.

    Looking back at Sugata, Homura says, "Glad to have it."

    As they arrive at the Antarctic, Homura makes sure to be in henshin before leaving the portal. As her feet touch the ice, she notices the cracks underneath and starts to slow down. With a frown, she squats down to her knees, removes her henshin shoes, and produces a pair of heavy snow boots from her shield. She is not walking on this ice with heels.

    She takes a few cautious steps, and notices that the ice is at least cracking less. Her weight is the same, but at least it's more spread out this way.

    When they approach the anglerfish water demons, Homura considers what kinds of ammunition to use here. While she might worry about falling through the ice, they are mahoujin and can jump accordingly. Also Coco is there if anyone needs a Live Stage, and Amy has her own flight mode. As for Homura... well... she has her own safety measures.

    She pulls an uzi from her shield and asides to Amy, "Seems that way." Her eyes go towards the frozen blocks. Are those the target?

    With a flicker of motion, Homura vanishes and reappears in the air above Sheshe and Mimi. She shouts, "I'm here to file a noise complaint!" before she starts firing at the bagpipe directly. The *brrrrrrrrrrt* of her small machine gun, loud as it is, might not compete with the sound of a magic bagpipe.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
The Ginga Kingu takes his first trip across Seira's Dream Corridor with a fascinated eye - he's focused on the task ahead, sure, but a small portion of him marvels at the sight, feeling his resolve to travel grow stronger.

Their arrival thow, is concerning - the temperature isn't warm, but it's not frigid either, not the way it should be in the Antarctic, his henshin feeling barely needed to protect him from the chill. Ahead of them lies the culprits, and he scowls, pressing a hand to his chest -

"Star Swordo! Diamante!"

A glowing sword of pure energy is drawn from his chest, Diamante gleaming pure white as he twists his wrist to deftly catch it, the weapon hefted up and launched in an attack to follow suit with Amy and Homura's.

"Star Crash!"
fThe sword flies fast, propelled by his gleaming blue-white energy, straight for the heat spewing instrument.

Coco Delrieu has posed:
"Maybe some magic flowed here from Caren's kingdom, and went dormant in the ice", Coco joins in on the speculation, scuttling closer to her and Amy. "May be a way to get closer to their goal. And not alert Caren too." They would need someone to know what is going on, and luckily, they are here. Let's take advantage while they still can.

With the noise a bagpipe makes, a huge one at that, it's not hard to say that Homura could take the time setting up her whole arsenal without timestop, and the only way the Black Beauty Sisters would notice is if they happened to look her way by pure chance.

Of course, time isn't really on their side, and the ice would keep melting then, not to mention the little pockets of magical energy that the Black Beauty Sisters are able to absorb whenever they find frozen water from Caren's kingdom in them, so her usual approach is the best choice all around.

Watching her friends' attacks, and remembering last time, Coco sighs and begins her own part in this. "Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!", she announces, though the forced shout gets a quick and abrupt series of Coco's breaths. Sweat already starts to coat her forehead as her muffled song immediately envelopes her allies, lessening the effort their attack takes and granting them a wave of serenity.

Star Light!<br>If we gather more light,<br>This world will surely begin to change<br><br>Even against the headwind, even in the dark depths of the sea<br>Never... let go of this hand<br><br>A dream begins - Super Live!<br>On a stage of light and shadow<br>Let love be delivered - Super Songs!<br>With a song of love that brings courage<br><br>Star Light!<br>If you believe in yourself a little more,<br>The future is bound to change<br><br>Even in a frozen world, at a lonely dawn,<br>This body may be small, but I won't lose<br><br>With love in the right hand - Super Live!<br>On a stage of tears and sweat<br>Keep singing - Super Girls!<br>These feelings will connect the world<br><br>Even against the headwind, even in the dark depths of the sea<br>Never... let go of this hand<br><br>A dream begins - Super Live!<br>On a stage of light and shadow<br>Let love be delivered - Super Songs!<br>With a song of love that brings courage<br><br>With love in the right hand - Super Live!<br>On a stage of tears and sweat<br>Keep singing - Super Girls!<br>These feelings will connect the world.

In this condition, it's no surprise Amy's shout goes unheard, and the blast by the red Puella clears the rest of the way, hitting Sheshe right in the back and sending her crashing to the ground with a spiderweb of cracks that quickly spreads from the center of her fall. The small machine gun, and the white sword immediately reach the noisy instrument, and they both impact one of the pipes, tearing it in half, and the flow of fire coming through weakens.

"Sister Sheshe, are you ok!?", Mimi immediately shouts, gripping the taller villain's shoulders. "Yes, it's fine. Just a bunch of rats that snuck over", she grunts, and lets the other Black Beauty Sister help her up.

"So you finally came. Do you really think you are up to the task?", Sheshe turns around, flashing them a grin. "We have learnt to really appreciate the gift that pony portal gave us. Isn't it marvelous?" She lifts her hand, and a small flame starts dancing above the shadow.

"Let's go, it's showtime!", they both announce at the unison, and holding each other's hands, four instruments appear behind them: a harp, a trombone, a harpsichord and a set of cymbals. Coated in brightly burning fire, the plates immediately fly at the raven-haired Puella, trying to get at her from opposite sides.

The small piano instead starts leapfrogging towards Ginga Kingu, spitting out notes at the same time, and the controller of Samekh soon has to deal with the harpsichord falling on him together with the series of pestering notes.

Coco Delrieu has posed:
The trombone starts blasting its sound waves at Puella Red, although the redhead will quickly notice that they have changed from the last time she had to deal with that attack, and will be able to feel the searing hot temperature they would be able to hit her with long before they reach.

The strings of the harp detach themselves, and time slows down while they reach for Coco, letting them wrap around the Live Stage Coco is in without much resistance. Lifting it up with only a short lived gasp of surprise from the yellow mermaid, they send her crashing down in a small cloud of debris. When it parts, she is kneeling on the ground of the white sphere, but looks mostly ok.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy blinks at Coco. "Magic... got frozen in the ice? Can that happen?" But she shoots at the sisters regardless. "Ha!" They're not defeated, but it sure is satisfying to see them hit by surprise all the same.

    She bobs her head a bit to Coco's song. "Yeah!"

    The sisters brag about their new powers. "And I've got a fresh grief seed!" She has to run from the burning fire blasts, but the trombone doesn't immediately get her this time, and she makes a dramatic sweep of her arm -- as if she's an anime ship captain giving the order to fire -- and a couple of salvos of mini-missiles appear in the air over her shoulders and launch out, two at each instrument!

    Of course, the trombone blasts are leaving melted areas she'd better not run over, but so far, she's fine, and with the song, grinning and feeling pretty positive!

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The wave of serenity from Coco's upbeat song softens Homura's face in a subtle way. Not that it's easy to see while she's constantly moving around the battlefield. Lydian has decided to stay back with Coco and waves tiny light sticks, one yellow and one orange, as if she were at an idol concert. Will this cheer up the mermaid princess? Probably not enough to cure her malady, but the minidoka is doing her best.

    The bagpipe is damaged, but Homura isn't surprised to see that alone doesn't stop the fight. When Sheshe mentions the pony portal and the power it gives them, the raven-haired Puella frowns. "What? Are you trying for ice powers, too?"

    Homura hears 'it's showtime' and half expects an evil song to follow up, but for better or worse that it's not the BBS's tactic today. Instead these voices in the dark are busy taunting them for now. When she lands, she notices the giant cymbals coming for her and her eyes widen because they are coming in fast.

    She holds still and waits for them to close in.Her shield turns. She flickers away, leaving a grenade in her place, hoping that the enemy instruments will close in around it just as it explodes.

    Of course, this might not be the best time for Lydian to hang out in Coco's Live Stage. She clings to the mermaid's shoulder as the strings lift up her light bubble and throw it against the ground, yelping during the impact. "Y-y-yikes! I'm glad it held," she says in a soft voice, not wanting to speak too loudly this close to Coco.

    Homura glances back at Coco. She telepathically tells Lydian, << Keep an eye on her. If she needs my help, then tell me. >> Since the minidoka is already keeping watch, Homura might as well take advantage of that.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
The bagpipes have been cut in half, their flow of fire reduced, and Ginga Kingu twists his fingers, dispelling the energy sword, the warm glow of his mark indicating that he can draw it back - but then, immediately, there's the counterattack, a piano bouncing its way towards him like an overstuffed-and-overstretched frog, and with a disdainful flick of his wrist, he calls,

"King's Counter!"

As a gleaming blue-white wall of energy appears in front of him, reflecting the force of the piano's attack back onto it.

A wave of serenity washes over him, further steadying an already steadfast spirit, and Ginga Kingu pulls free the energy sword from his chest once more.

"Better fighters than you two have been finished by Yellow Pearl Voice's allies. Don't get full of yourself."

Coco Delrieu has posed:
"That sounds just right for us. Red and blue, see?", Sheshe answers fluidly, tilting her head maliciously at Homura. "If you wanted to offer your own powers, we wouldn't refuse either. What do you say, Sister Mimi?"

"Only fitting that a Panthalassa started what a Panthalassa ended, Sister Sheshe", she looks at the red demon, laughing sharply. The two of them watch smugly even as the time stops redirects the cymbals onto a grenade. There is a loud explosion, and the cymbals gets thrown high into the sky, fading into nothingness before they can finish their arc.

Coco's ears ring, and what she catches of Amy's question is a touch too difficult for her to answer at the moment, while she is trying to push back against a wave of dizziness. Coughing and taking quick breaths, she slowly stands up again, and the Live Stage shines brighter.

"Thank you", she says gratefully at Lydian's encouragement with words that only reach the Chara Guardian's ears. A bright smile appears on her face again at seeing that nothing bad has happened to the small fairy in the attack.

"That was really nice", Seira agrees, watching the musical minidoka warmly. Yellow and orange - Like Coco and her?

"Let's try this", she adds, standing up straight and bringing her E-Pitch to her lips again. A power that she knows the Black Beauty Sisters have acquired, but one that they haven't relied on all that much. A thought that gives her relief.

With love in the right hand - Super Live!
On a stage of tears and sweat
Keep singing - Super Girls!
These feelings will connect the world

Even against the headwind, even in the dark depths of the sea
Never... let go of this hand

A dream begins - Super Live!
On a stage of light and shadow
Let love be delivered - Super Songs!
With a song of love that brings courage

With love in the right hand - Super Live!
On a stage of tears and sweat
Keep singing - Super Girls!
These feelings will connect the world

The Live Stage duplicates, and the other away shines and starts rolling through the air, crashing through the half-broken pipe and finishing the job, immediately joined by the reflected power sent back by King's Counter, after just breaking the harpsichord into several small fragments.

Sheshe and Mimi glow in red and blue, and the two auras mix together, then break off of them as a violet roaring flame when they both point at Ginga Kingu arrogantly. "Think you can reflect this too?"

Meanwhile, the trombone has received Amy's attack, and the mini-missiles have gotten up the tube, bumping it everywhere while it keeps sending blazing sound waves at both the ground and the red Puella. The remaining salvo has a much better time, and instead breaks another of the pipes, leaving it down to less than half from where it started.

The ice is looking a lot more transparent now, and in places, there are now holes that look half-melted, half-broken down, with jagged ends.

"Can you disappear through this?", Mimi calls out to Homura, and the harp changes targets, and the time-slowing chords come after Homura trying to wrap tightly around her, appearing to be much faster than they would be thanks to the power of the Indian Ocean.

"Hey, Mermaid Princess, catch this!", Sheshe laughs, and a group of five clarinets appears and launches itself at the Live Stage, breaking through. Coco grabs Lydian in a sluggish movement when she realises the situation, and the split attack hits her, causing her a few small bruises along her back.

"I am ok, no worries", the idol immediately reassures the fairy. "I think the Live Stage took the worst of it."

Amanda Faust has posed:
> If you wanted to offer your own powers,
    "You don't want to drain us." Amy warns.

    The ground is getting unstable, but she can leap onto the Live Stages.

    When they shout 'catch this' she's ready. "Nope!" She immediately conjures another couple of salvos of minimissiles, trying to intercept. And then she conjures the artillery cannon. "Hey, Fish Jerks, catch this! Repeating Fire!" And she starts firing high-explosive shells, seeing how many it takes to break through their Live Stages!

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    At the thought of having her powers drained, Homura's expression changes. She's actually seen what they can do, and the thought of them draining something like her soul...

    Madoka, or rather Hope Concept, might be able to fix something like that, but would Homura take the risk? Not really.

    "You wont get anywhere near me," bites back Homura after watching the cymbals fade to nothing, "Also, I'm not Panthalassa. Amy is right. You don't want what we have."

    Lydian can't help but get concerned for Coco. The yellow idol is doing her best, and all Lydian can do is cheer her on. Which is why, yes, the colors she chose represent the two mermaids present.

    Everyone here is fighting, and Homura mentally tracks Sugata's and Amy's locations too. Sugata seems like he can more or less handle himself, or at least he seems like the type who'd feel insulted if you ever insinuated elsewise, and Amy is talking about a fresh Grief Seed. So Homura chooses instead to focus on her own defense.

    The time-warping harp with its broken chords reach out for her, and she has a brief moment of panic as one of them wraps around her ankles. Normally this would actually be pretty bad, since a grapple means that she can't use her timestop.

    Well, more specifically, it means that the harp would get pulled into timestop with her. Which might mean that both sides are isolated from their teams. As more of the too-fast chords approach her, she wonders. Can Mimi and Sheshe see through the eyes of the harp?

    As her shield turns, she locks eyes on the evil harp, gambling upon the answer being 'no'. Fighting the instrument within frozen time, Homura has a private duel with it that doesn't stop until either the enemy is destroyed or the chords have somehow been cut.

    In the exact moment that time resumes, there are suddenly a lot of blasts and bullets flying all over the place, none of them seeming to hit much of anything. From the spot where Homura reappears comes a volley of five rockets, each of them aimed at the evil sisters. "What about you? Think you can get away?"

    Lydian looks up at Coco with a slightly forced smile. All she can do is try to encourage her, so she says, "I believe in you. You can do it!"

Sugata Shindo has posed:
    > Think you can reflect this too?

"Yes," Ginga Kingu says, and his neutral expression is split by a smug smirk. These two are strong, no doubt, and their instruments are irksome indeed, capable of displaying their power, but he's never run from a fight, and while he certainly won't be doing a King's Pillar in the devastated Antarctic, he will be doing something equally ostentatious:

"Apprivoise!"

In an instant, power gathers, and he boosts up, into his next form, shadowy energy armor forming an intimidating shape over his henshin, Samekh's terrible presence leeching more thoroughly into his power, a sense of something hungry and vicious in the undertow of his presence.

Diamante glows brighter with his power, clutched in one fist, and he does, indeed, reflect the blow, with a shouted "King's Counter!"-

But he does not simply reflect the power, this time, but instead, uses the aspect that made Wako and Takuto try to name the attack 'Ginga Kingu's Bouncu Backu' -

His ability to direct the reflection, and add his own power to it, Sheshe and Mimi's attack gaining a blue-white flare of energy as it slams off the wall of his defenses and bounces right back to them, twice as strong.

Coco Delrieu has posed:
In the invisible space of stopped time, the power of the harp continues without input from Sheshe and Mimi, unable to subtract what is no longer there. Holes start appearing on the harp as it keeps trying to do the impossible, and the attack of the raven-haired Puella just puts the construct out of its misery, effortlessly putting an end to the enchantment.

Time resumes, and the water demons frown as they notice the harp gone. "You are not?" Sheshe replies, confused. "That's a shame. We were hoping to be at a 2 for 2 eventually. "There have to be more somewhere", Mimi immediately says, and neither of them is looking at Homura now, stepping around the ground in a way that only produces precious little cracks on their way to the giant bagpipes.

The two of them exchange a look of agreement, and Mimi lights up the flame inside the instrument further, making it grow and making it spit more flames out of the remaining two pipes, a blazing rain that separates the Black Beauty Sisters from the group of mahoujin that has come to fight them. The high-explosive shells of Puella Red's Repeating Fire clash against this improvised barrier, and there are great shocks as the unstable fire keeps accumulating.

They are ever so glad to have a barrier between them and the group of assailant when another shadow appears, called out by Ginga Kingu, and there is a distinct sensation of hunger that they call feel deep within, not unlike the void they have been filling, but larger, and much older, and for a moment a look of worry reflects in their eyes.

Coco grips her E-Pitch, and while her song proceeds, the purification isn't reaching far enough for it to matter. Lydian's encouragement, however, is another matter, and sparks a newer light in her heart, stronger feelings that warm her magic, and brightly light up the Yellow Pearl.

The Yellow Mermaid Princess raises her right arm and calls out within herself Aqua Regina's blessing, the bracelet on her wrist shining with white radiance as a halo of yellow light moves downwards from the mermaid princess's head and her clothes change again.

Her left glove now adheres to her arm with a pattern made up of water ripples, while on her left leg a stocking has shown up with the same water ripple pattern, and on her right hand and on her legs a yellow glove and boots with flowy extensions show up.

Bathed in a golden glow, rhythmic pulses of light that give a warm embrace to the pain, soothe all the fatigue and push away the darkness.

"Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Finale!", the mermaid princess smiles gently.

At the apex of the song, purifying hearts fly out in all directions, the reach of a big circle of love that won't end. "Fine Heart Pitch!", she concludes the performance with a serene smile, extremely strong purification burning the dark energy and the one that holds it.

Love and loss I truly know them well
To love the lost I would break through hell

All my love across an amber sky
Looking right at all the ways you shine
All I have is you, my everything
Our bond beyond seven seas
All my love across the darkest night
Waiting just ahead to be your guide
All I have is you, my everything
Our bond beyond seven seas
Our bond beyond seven seas
Our bond is every part of me
My pearl

Coco Delrieu has posed:
Right then, the wall of fire breaks and before it can have even a shard of the time needed to reform, the reflected power with Ginga Kingu's own essence breaks through, and the many volleys of Homura's attack accompany it, attacking the instrument that has been the source of the Antarctic's suffering and reducing it to nothing.

Sheshe and Mimi scoff at Homura's question. "Yes, we think we can. Don't look down now", they reply with clear satisfaction. They direct their strength into a smaller flame, dripping fire onto the ground again, and this time the ice finally cedes, cracking and melting in the span of 10 seconds.

At first there is a small sensation of weightlessness, and Coco grits her teeth, her cheeks flushed and damp with sweat, and her body trembling as her stomach lurches. She forces the words out, each note of the song wavering from the heat of her fever, and the Live Stage appears around everyone, catching their falls and leaving them floating inside the sphere of light. Below them, there is a tunnel of several tens of meters, extending before them and curving.

<What is this doing here?> Coco thinks, her vision slightly blurred from the heat, squinting at the mix of rock and ice extending below them, though any bottom turns away from her sight.

When they will get back above, no trace of the two demons will be found.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Dammit... break already!" Amy shouts as she tries to break through the barriers, but it seems it's no use, and they all fall-- At least the Live Stage catches her.

"There's... actually an underground tunnel here? How? Who made this?!"

    Amy looks around. "Is everyone alright?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Seeing the twin sisters immediately grow cold to Homura causes her to raise an eyebrow. Well, it's not as if she wanted their approval to begin with, and at least they know where things stand now. She was never going to side with them, nor could they ever curry favor with her.

    A barrier of fire separates the enemy from them, but their combined attacks finally force an opening. Just as Homura thinks that the fight is over, the ice that they're fighting on starts to fall away.

    The veteran Puella stumbles for a moment as the ice falls away beneath them. Her hand moves to cover her Soul Gem to prevent it from cracking as she descends. She thinks that she can probably survive the fall itself, considering how high a mahoujin typically jumps, but Homura has concerns about the sheer amount of cold debris will be falling with them.

    Before she can finish calculating her next move, Coco has already come to the rescue. The glowing orb that is the Live Stage surrounds her, and she floats above the falling ice. She's safe, Lydian's safe, their allies are safe, and the Black Beauty Sisters are likely gone already.

    "There's a cave system down there," notes Homura. "Think it leads anywhere?" Glancing towards Coco, Homura wonders how much stamina the poor girl even has for glacial spelunking. Probably not a whole lot. Instead of suggesting an investigation, she says, "... Maybe we can just ask Caren if she knows anything about it. Later. How is everyone holding up?"

    She phrases it as a general question for the entire group, specifically not trying to single out the mermaid.

    Lydian meanwhile has been looking down at the icy tunnels below them from the moment she saw the ice crack. There's very little chance that a flying fairy inside a flying Live Stage was ever going to fall down there, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have concerns. They still don't know what the water demons wanted from this place.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Their enemy is pushed back in stages, first one instrument and then the other, worry gleaming in their eyes at the power of Samekh's presence, the shadow of him that empowers Sugata, and the Ginga Kingu sneers at them, gripping his Star Swordo and ready to continue the fight, when -

Well. He definitely wasn't expecting them to take the ice from under their feet, leaving them plummeting. Power snaps to Ginga Kingu's feet, flight kicking in just before the Live Stage catches them, and tentatively he releases the power, glancing at the visibly weakened and sick Yellow Pearl Voice with concern.

"So there was," he acknowledges to Homura, frowning. "More than I would have expected, here, but the land mass is meant to be merely frozen, not formed if ice itself. Perhaps those tunnels have something to do with the magic they were seeking..."

A question for another day, perhaps, an adventure in caving, but for now his focus turns to Coco. Homura is polite, targeting no one.

Sugata is not.

"Thank you for catching us, but you're not well enough to keep this up," he says, blunt but with an edge of concern that softens it ever so slightly. "Will the other mermaid need your help to return us to Tokyo?"

He's unfamiliar with Seira and the limits of her power, and he looks around at the melting landscape and tsks.

"If so, we should leave, so you can recuperate. Mamoru-san and his fellows have group teleportation abilities. They can bring us back so that those with power over ice can hell to restore this place."

Coco Delrieu has posed:
"I'm ok", Coco replies clipped, trying to get sight into focus again. She can barely tell what the others are talking about anyway, and all she really knows is the Black Beauty Sisters have escaped again, and they will have to keep chasing after them. Did they actually get the bagpipes? She is feeling so hot it's hard to tell if it's broken, or they just need that one final push.

"Hey, Seira. Is the ice... safe?", she asks, taking in quick breaths.

The orange mermaid floats close and replies. "It's safe, Coco." She is not sure how much to tell her, as she doesn't really look like Coco is good for a longer conversation, so she turns to Ginga Kingu. "I have kept my strength for the return trip, so I will just bring everyone back to Tokyo now."

The orange mermaid looks at Homura and then Amy. "I think I should bring us to the Pearl Pier. I hope you can go back to the school by yourselves." She is not sure she can manage two trips like that, and Coco looks too spent to drop her elsewhere.

If only she could use her full powers too.

The Dream Corridor opens again, and soon everyone is back home, away from the place. Maybe later some ice users can come back to speed up the healing of the Antarctic as Kingu suggested.